At grocery stores across Delaware, shoppers are learning to stretch every dollar as food prices continue to climb. Staples once routinely added to grocery lists — coffee, beef, eggs, bread, and butter — now command noticeably higher price tags. Even savvy shoppers who plan menus and chase weekly specials are finding their grocery tab is higher each time they go through the checkout line.
The price of coffee has surged about 21 percent in the past year, driven by a calamitous combination of droughts, frost and tariffs in Brazil and other major producing countries. Beef is up about 11 percent, as prolonged droughts have shrunk U.S. cattle herds to their smallest numbers in 70 years and feed prices remain elevated. Tariffs are adding to the price of beef imported from Australia and New Zealand. Eggs, which soared during last year’s bird flu outbreak, are still roughly 50 percent higher than before the pandemic.
Meanwhile, flour, sugar, canned fruits and vegetables, and carbonated drinks have each climbed by more than 30 percent since 2020. Bread, butter, and cooking oil—kitchen staples for families and restaurants alike—cost far more than they did five years ago.
The forces driving those increases are complex, from local farms to foreign fields. The war in Ukraine disrupted grain and fertilizer exports, raising costs for farmers worldwide. Closer to home, stricter immigration enforcement has left farms and food-processing plants short-staffed, pushing up labor expenses. Fuel and transportation costs remain high, making it more expensive to move goods from field to factory to store shelf. With droughts, heat waves, and erratic weather affecting crops around the world, the price of food is being squeezed from nearly every side.
Faced with the new normal of higher grocery bills, many consumers are changing their habits.
Robin Zenak of Wilmington has turned to Aldi, the German-based discount supermarket chain that specializes in private-label goods.
“The eggs, milk, produce, and even organic items are way less expensive than other grocery stores,” she says. “It really helps to stretch my food dollars.”
Aldi’s minimalist model — smaller stores, limited selection, and low overhead — is proving to be a winning formula in a high-inflation era. The company opened a store on Route 202 in North Wilmington last December and now operates 10 locations statewide. Aldi plans to build a 1.1-million-square-foot distribution center south of New Castle to support further growth.
Nationally, the chain is opening more than 225 stores this year, which will bring its U.S. total to around 2,600 by the end of 2025. That would make it the third-largest supermarket chain in the country by number of stores, behind only Walmart and Kroger, a mega grocer based in Cincinnati. According to data from Placer.ai, a provider of location analytics, customer visits to Aldi rose more than 7% in the first half of this year, far outpacing the grocery industry’s overall growth rate of 1.8%.
Each Aldi store averages about 20,000 square feet, roughly half the size of a traditional supermarket. About 90 percent of its products are private-label brands, which allows the chain to set prices below those of national competitors.
Other consumers are adapting through strategy rather than store choice.
Kevin Shelley keeps close track of sales fliers from multiple chains and times his purchases to coincide with discounts.
“I shop at Acme on Tuesdays, when seniors get 5% off,” he says. “I check the Lidl circulars for the best deals, and I buy more Cryovac-wrapped meats with longer shelf life so I can plan ahead and waste less.”
Shoppers like Shelley who peruse supermarket fliers can make informed decisions while making their grocery lists. At ShopRite, recent promotional deals include T-bone steaks at $9.99 a pound and avocados at 79 cents each. At Giant, boneless chicken breasts are $1.99 a pound with a digital coupon; Hormel Black Label bacon is $4.99. Deals at Acme include 80% lean ground beef at $3.79 a pound with a digital coupon and red or green seedless grapes at 99 cents a pound. There’s a four-pound limit.
Even with those adjustments, households are feeling the squeeze. The University of Michigan’s long-running index of consumer sentiment edged down again in early October to a rating 55, among the weakest readings since the 1950s.
“Pocketbook issues like high prices and weakening job prospects remain at the forefront of consumers’ minds,” says survey director Joanne Hsu. “Consumers do not expect meaningful improvement in these factors.”
With optimism low and food prices up, many families are cutting back on nonessential spending. For some Delawareans, those economies aren’t enough to balance the budget.
On a weekday afternoon, the crowd at Our Daily Bread, a soup kitchen in Middletown, is a sign of how deeply food inflation has seeped into everyday life.
ExecutDirector Brian Farragher says the change over the past few months has been striking.
“Back in June, 200 meals a day was a lot, something we would see maybe twice a month,” he says. “In September, we averaged 240 meals a day. There are a lot of people out there who are suffering because the price of food has gone up dramatically.”
Our Daily Bread serves anyone who arrives, from small children to senior citizens, no questions asked. Guests can take extra meals home to share with family or neighbors.
“People are sharing food,” Farragher says. “They look out for each other.”
Self-service shelves and refrigerators at the kitchen are filled with whatever donations come in: baked goods, meats, casseroles, fresh produce, and ready-to-eat meals. In September, the organization handled 27,000 pounds of food, much of it nearing the expiration date, donated by nearby supermarkets and restaurants. A recent pickup brought in 4,500 pounds of goods from Acme, Giant, Sprouts, and Walmart.
A team of roughly 300 volunteers prepares and serves the food — burgers and hot dogs one day, spaghetti and meatballs the next, with plenty of casseroles in between. Most of the adults who eat there are working but are hard-pressed to buy food because their rents and utility bills also have gone up.
“Back in June, 200 meals a day was a lot, something we would see maybe twice a month. In September, we averaged 240 meals a day. There are a lot of people out there who are suffering because the price of food has gone up dramatically.”Executive director Brian Farragher on the need for food assistance Our Daily Bread is seeing
“They don’t dine out. They don’t go on vacations,” Farragher says of the guests. “They just can’t make ends meet.”
In Bridgeville, the town has partnered with the Food Bank of Delaware to host a Mobile Pantry on Oct. 22. The pantry is stocked with nonperishables, fresh produce, dairy, and frozen goods. Depending on what’s available, the pantry may also offer personal care items like soap and toothpaste. Volunteers load boxes directly into residents’ vehicles, and distribution continues until supplies run out.
The Food Bank’s mobile pantries operate across the state, reaching people who live far from grocery stores or lack transportation. Organizers say demand has risen sharply over the past year, particularly among working families whose wages haven’t kept pace with inflation.
Some shoppers are taking a retro approach to trimming grocery bills. Sales of Hamburger Helper, priced at about $2 a box, are up 14.5%. Consumers also are loading more beans and rice into their carts.
The ripple effects have spread beyond the human dinner table. Prices for pet food are climbing even faster than for people food.
Industry analyst John Gibbons reports that “petflation” accelerated in July 2025, with chow for Rover and Fluffy up 2.6 percent year over year and 24 percent above 2021 levels.
